Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides a comprehensive look at life in Latin America, focusing on the everyday experiences and challenges expats face. He begins by introducing the show's purpose, which is to offer an honest and detailed account of living, working, playing, and retiring in the region. Johnny highlights the contrast between the positive and negative aspects of life there, emphasizing the everyday surprises and cultural nuances that expats encounter.
One of the topics he discusses is the common practice at Latin American gas stations, where attendants often provide free services such as washing windows, checking tire pressure, and offering small gifts like water or pens. He contrasts this with the typical experience in the United States, where such services are not consistently offered. Johnny also warns expats about the potential risks of using smaller, local gas stations, which may not adhere to the same standards of quality and service as larger, transnational chains like Shell or Puma.
The segment then moves on to Johnny's discussion of the culture and challenges of gas stations in Latin America. He highlights the presence of convenient stores, the cheerful demeanor of workers, and the common issue of gas shortages. He also touches on child labor, the informal economy, and the lack of enforcement of labor laws. Additionally, he mentions the importance of carrying a water bottle for emergencies and the unique situation of full-service gas stations in Oregon.
In another segment, Johnny discusses the common practice of bottled water labeling as 'Agua Pura' (pure water) in Latin America, highlighting the irony that it's not actually pure. He explains that this labeling is a cultural norm, and even expats are often confused by it. He also touches on the issue of drinking water with ice, emphasizing that ice in drinks can be a source of contamination due to unhygienic handling.
The segment transitions into a discussion about cockroaches (kookarachas), noting their prevalence in Latin American kitchens and the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in preventing infestations. Johnny suggests that expats can live kookaracha-free by maintaining strict cleaning practices, even without the use of harsh chemicals.
In a later segment, Johnny recounts his experience with 'kookaracha's' in Costa Rica, highlighting how he was initially shocked by the presence of these pests in a local bakery. He describes how the bees were attracted to the pastries, and the counter staff didn't seem to care. He later learned that the cleaning lady was responsible for the infestation, and he emphasizes the importance of proper dishwashing and kitchen hygiene to prevent such issues. He also mentions the prevalence of kookaracha's in microwaves and other appliances, and how even in the United States, these pests are a common problem.
Finally, Johnny provides practical advice on preventing kookarachas in the kitchen. He emphasizes the importance of sealing food waste properly, using plastic bags and garbage pails, and avoiding swivel garbage can lids that attract pests. He also suggests using a homemade 'kookaracha grenade' made from borax, gold metal flour, and brown sugar to eliminate infestations. Additionally, he recommends using rubberized mats on kitchen shelves and cleaning garbage cans regularly. Johnny also mentions the importance of educating cleaning staff and offers a seminar for expats to learn more about managing pests in Latin America.
Topics
Introduction to the show and its purpose, Cultural experiences in Latin America, Gas station practices and customer service, Comparison between Latin America and the United States, Risks and considerations for expats in Latin America, Gas stations in Latin America, Child labor and informal economy, Cultural observations, Travel tips for expats, Bottled water labeling, Hygiene and contamination, Cockroach infestations
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:17 Introduction to the Show and Host 00:00:27 Overview of the Show's Content 00:01:25 Positive Aspects of Gas Station Service 00:03:40 Comparison with U.S. Gas Station Practices 00:04:17 Quality and Service Standards in Gas Stations 00:05:40 Gas Stations with Convenient Stores in Latin America 00:06:01 Workers at Gas Stations in Latin America 00:06:37 Gas Shortages at Gas Stations in Latin America 00:09:17 Child Labor in the Informal Economy 00:11:15 International Trade Agreements and Child Labor Laws 00:11:51 The Labeling of Bottled Water as 'Agua Pura' in Latin America 00:12:30 Why Bottled Water Must Say 'Pure Water' on It 00:14:52 Cockroach Infestations in Latin America 00:17:32 The Shock of Bees in the Bakery 00:18:34 The Cleaning Lady's Role in Infestation 00:23:15 The Weak Link in Garbage Sealing: Swivel Lids and Kookarachas 00:25:25 Homemade Kookaracha Grenades: A Two-Week Solution
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder My thoughts ever straight Hi everybody I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files Living in Latin America the show that tells you what it's really like to live work play and or retire in Latin America I tell it just like it is so let's get started Now you know here at the expat files living in Latin America That's the full name of the show really and you know I don't always add that living in Latin America part in because well like expat Eddie says where in the hell else would you want to
[00:46] Live anyway as you well know I like to talk about the good the bad the ugly and especially The very surprising things that happen down here in Latin America things that are just everyday common to the locals Yet when guys and gals from Milwaukee and Cleveland come down here and see things like that for the first time It's something to write home about like for example in a recent past show I was talking about going to the gas station and how if you're not aware of one simple thing You could get ripped off for a few bucks worth of gas no big deal It's not that bad, but it does happen quite a bit Especially to tourists foreigners and out-of-towners and now to balance things out I'm gonna tell you about one of the very positive things that happens at Latin gas stations And it's something that reveals a lot about the common Latin persons nice disposition and friendly character at least
[01:36] That's what it demonstrates to me now like I mentioned before all gas stations in Latin America are full service sure They've all got two or three self-serve pumps, but they're not used too much So when you drive into a gas station you'll always see five six seven eight even ten guys with uniforms walking around Pumping gas and cleaning windshields and checking the air and your tires and stuff now Here's something that you can do down here But I don't think you want to try it up in the states You drive up to a full service pump and you roll your window down and say to the gas station attendant Would you please wash my windows and check the air pressure in my tires, and could you make sure they're at 32 pounds and Then when he asks you how much gas you want you say no gas today, but thanks for asking well guess what 100% of the time
[02:23] These Latin American gas station attendants will wash your windows and check your tires and do it with a big sincere smile now You might think that it's just a gringo advantage kicking in for you because they seem so happy and go out of their way to do Things for you, and that's without ringing up even a dime's worth of gas or anything But believe me you don't have to be a gringo at all to get that kind of treatment 24-7 in fact get this there's a new gas station chain down in Central America that bought out hundreds and hundreds of shell stations It's called Puma and a lot of these Puma stations have a girl attendant in uniform of course And she walks around to each car and gives out little plastic garbage bags or free pens or keychains And even nice metal air pressure gauges and often she'll hand you a free eight ounce bottle of water in fact
[03:11] That's all she does she just gives away things to customers now I'm not sure that these gas stations have PR ladies like that giving out free things to customers in the very bad Crappy areas in the big cities I wouldn't know because I keep away from places like that as every expat should like I said before There are just so many nice places for expats to live in Latin America Even in the medium and large sized cities But you do have to get your boots on the ground and mingle a bit with the locals and cab drivers and stuff to figure that All out, but let's get back to those gas station girls that give away that free stuff And yes, even if you don't buy any gas at all you just pull in and have your windshield washed She'll still give you a free bottle of water or whatever the freebie is for the day now
[03:56] Let me ask you if there's any gas station up in the states that Consistently gives you that kind of service and freebies as well I'm talking not just for a grand opening or a special promotion either I mean day after day now I know some of you guys out there might be thinking this flies in the face of what I've been saying about Latin businesses And their complete lack of service and detail Well, you see the catch here is that only the gas stations owned by transnational oil companies like shell Texaco chevron BP and Puma They're the ones that offer a high level of service like that turns out the smaller local and national gas station chains The ones with the funky names you've never heard of before Well, they really are third and fourth rate dumps And I don't recommend expats ever filling up there
[04:43] even if it is 20 or 30 cents cheaper a gallon in the India might be screwing up your car because remember Governments down here are not checking pumps for accuracy, or if the gas they call super is really super in fact It's very likely that the octane of the gas is much lower than what's printed on the pump and they can get away with it Because nobody's checking in fact the gas you buy at a no-name station Could be and probably is loaded with sludge sand crap rust and other contaminants, and you'll never know it So what I'm saying is try not to run out of gas in front of a local no-name gas station And if you do just put in two bucks enough to get you out of there And then fill up when you get to the next shell or Texaco So bottom line the reason why you get such a good service at a gas station owned by a transnational like Texaco
[05:32] It's because transnationals have huge marketing departments And they know all about competition and how to cultivate and keep customers And one more thing almost all the little gas stations in Latin America have their little convenient store attached You know like a 7-eleven and when you pull into park and buy something in one of those places If you keep your eyes open and pay attention you'll notice that all the workers in their little uniforms are having a lot of fun They're joking and smiling and laughing with each other all day long Even when doing one of the most mindless and unfulfilling jobs you can think of still everybody's happy I guess they're just glad to have a job and it comes with a uniform now if you remember Goober and Gomer pile at the Mayberry filling station now those two guys always had big-ass greens on their faces, too
[06:19] But that was back in the 60s, and they had to be on something oh and another thing about gas stations down here Don't be surprised if you pull up to a pump and get ready to do your thing and a little guy with a uniform comes Over and says Los siento No tenemos super or no tenemos regular which means sorry We don't have any super or we don't have any regular or we don't have any gas at all details details huh even at the big transnationals like shell and Texaco and That's why I always recommend you carry an empty plastic water bottle in the trunk of your car Just in case you're running on fumes and you pull up to a gas station, and they pull that Los siento No tenemos gasoline a bit so there is a chance even after all your best efforts that you might run out of gas on the
[07:05] Road because there will be gas stations that look open that in fact are either closed or don't have any gas Especially when you're on the highway out in the boonies, or it's late at night So despite your best efforts if you run out of gas on the road at least you have a bottle in the back of your car And don't worry that it's a water bottle, and it's not red I know up in the states you'll get a big fine if you don't put your gas in a red certified container Specifically for gas well down here in Latin America if you were to quiz even a cop about that He'd look at you like you were nuts down here You could fill milk bottles full of gasoline and juggle them in traffic on a busy street corner And no one would give a damn in fact you could probably make a living off tips on that When by the way on last week's show when I mentioned that gas station ripoff scam
[07:52] I did get some emails about that and here's what Mike says Johnny You mentioned on your expat file show about self-service versus full-surface gas here in the states. There is one interesting exception and There he's referring to what I said about there being no full-service gas stations anymore in the states at least That's what certain gringos have been telling me anyway. He says there's always Oregon it turns out except for the Indian Reservations in that state all Oregon gas stations are full service by law unless that's gotten changed But I doubt it. That's one of the few states west of the Mississippi I've not yet visited, but my best friend finds it a bit strange He takes advantage of the reservations cheaper
[08:39] self-service whenever he goes westward Cheers Johnny Mike. Well. Thanks Mike. I didn't know that okay and another thing a lot of gringos Tell me when they pull into a gas station. It looks like it's child labor time the kids pump and gas Sometimes look like they're about 12 or 13 years old and visiting gringos are thinking isn't that illegal well You have to realize that down here in Latin America in some countries up to 50% of the working Population is off the books that means they're not registered with the government They get cash and they don't pay taxes and you know in a way you got to love that right But it does open up the door for child labor And you know there are vast numbers of young kids under 16 working full-time jobs and not going to school and basically
[09:28] No one's checking not in any of the mom-and-pop shops or the little kiosks on the streets anyway Now just a couple of weeks ago. I was in Copan Honduras. You know that cool little town that has those Magnificent Mayan ruins anyway not four blocks from the official entrance of those ruins is a Texaco station called Texaco down here And it's a small station with only five or six pumps because Copan is a small town only about 5,000 people no McDonald's Wendy's or anything like that anyway there were about four or five gas station attendants in uniform hanging around doing things for clients And I'll bet not one of those little kids was over 15 in fact I snapped a picture of the midget Texaco crew for my seminar so anyway Don't be surprised when you're driving through Latin America
[10:14] And you see young kids working practically everywhere Some of them no older than nine or ten years old and you mostly see him selling stuff on busy streets and minding little mom-and-pop Kiosks, so who's minding the store and checking up on those things nobody not in the informal economy anyway But as for working a regular job at a McDonald's or a Walmart or any company that's registered and paying taxes Well just like in the states when you apply for the job you got to bring along an ID like a Passport or a national ID card or a settler and down here They have these little ID booklets called settlers which are now being phased out for a national ID card with get this an RF ID chip in it that doesn't work You got to love it, huh, so when you hear people say that child labor is rampant in Latin America
[11:03] Well, that's true But don't think any of these lazy ass corrupt governments are gonna do anything about it and in fact it seems like the only reason Why child labor laws are enforced in the formal economy at all though? Loosely is because of certain international trade agreements that were signed prohibiting child labor along with guaranteeing certain workers rights Owen one more thing about those gas stations now I mentioned that some of these gas station girls will occasionally give you a free bottle of water and it's marketing of course because the Bottle has the logo on it naturally and speaking of bottled water Let me mention one simple thing that you might not be aware of now when you're in a restaurant or at somebody's house or in A grocery store, but one of those little hole-in-the-wall tien does you know those mom-and-pop convenient stores that look like a rundown storage unit?
[11:51] Well, you know when you walk into one of those places all of the brands of bottled water say Agua Pura on them Agua Pura which means pure water and of course you and I know that's not really pure water But 99.9% of all lands know that if it says Agua Pura on the label, which is pure water They won't get sick or at least shouldn't get sick on it Like they just might if they drink the tap water now gringos and expats sometimes ask each other Why the bottled water says Agua Pura on it why it says pure water? I mean think about it. Would you buy any other kind would a store sell impure water? Well, that's debatable But anyway, why does bottled water have to say pure water on it? Shouldn't that go without saying?
[12:38] Yeah, like you'd buy any other kind For example, if you go to a restaurant the waiter or waitress will always say would you like some Agua Pura? Meanwhile expats and gringos are thinking you mean I've got a choice. I can have that or unpure water It's just one of those funny twists in the language that you see all the time down here and it's funny, too I've been invited to dinners at more than my fair share of Latin homes And as usual water glasses are filled on the table for company And if I bring a tourist gringo along with me, he'll often whisper to me Johnny. Is that water? All right. Is that Agua Pura and I'll say no, it's toilet water And then I'll say just kidding But you know what they think it's pure water So I guess you can drink it and the next question usually is Johnny
[13:25] Are you gonna drink it and I'll say if I'm desperate But only if it doesn't have any ice in it and let me mention just one more thing about ice now You guys all know that I don't recommend you drink anything with ice in it Unless you made the ice and put it in yourself And that's even if they insist that the ice is made from filtered water Which is what they might say at a restaurant or sometimes you'll even see printed on the menu But only in tourist areas, but you know what unless those filter canisters were recently installed There's a very good chance they've never been changed at all and never will be unless again You're in a first world franchise or in a first world hotel chain But the real problem is if you look in the kitchen at these restaurants You'll see they carry groups of clean glasses around by the rims with their dirty fingers
[14:14] Which I bet in the last couple of hours have been in a lot worse places than your fingers have been Okay, so that's problem. Number one problem. Number two is about 75% of the waiters and bartenders and even people in a Latin home that might give you a glass of so-called Pure water with ice in it. Well, guess what? They toss those ice cubes in your drink with their fingers And though it's something you and I might do regularly with our own drinks back home But hell they're our own fingers, right? And you know, it's like expat Eddie always says he says everybody hates spit But funny thing if it's your own spit, well, that's a different story Now speaking about health and hygiene. I like to talk a little bit about kookarachas cockroaches I'm sure some of you were wondering when I was gonna get around to that and yeah
[15:03] I know they're disgusting and I don't want to make you sick But if we're really talking about living loving playing retiring and or doing business in Latin America Well, we have to hit on kookarachas sometime or another because they're everywhere Except and note this well in my house and believe it or not about 60 to 70 percent of my gringo friends Don't have any kookarachas in their houses either And no, we don't use raid or any of the local brands of insecticide that believe me are so toxic They'd be banned in the States for sure But since there's no FDA or EPA it's buyer beware, but I can deal with that Can you all you got to do is read the labels anyway pay attention very closely to this broadcast?
[15:48] Because I'm gonna give you some tips here that allow you to live your life kookaracha free in your own home But let me tell you get used to kookaraches because they're absolutely part of the kitchen landscape down here except of course in my house and some of my friends houses gringo friends and because they're virtually everywhere Latin's are Accustomed to them they don't get freaked out by them like so many green expats and visiting gringos do if you follow the basic rules That I'm gonna lay out for you right now You will never have a kookaracha problem, and I guarantee it in fact There's a good chance that you won't even see one or two kookarachas hanging around your kitchen in a whole year and all that without any nasty chemicals at all basically, it's all about hygiene and cleanliness and I'll tell you where it starts with your
[16:36] Cleaning lady and as much as you're thinking up in Cleveland You'll never be able to afford one or you'll do your cleaning yourself if you're a gringo You will have a cleaning lady at least once a week And she'll bring with her all her bad habits that she's got at home and at home She's got tons of kookarachas now That's not to say Latin's are so accustomed to kookaraches that they like them They hate them too But they accept them as a fact of life and us gringos don't have to now that means if you do succeed in eliminating all kookaraches from your house You'll still run into them when you're out and about at restaurants bakeries and visiting the homes of Latin people And that includes all classes of Latin's by the way And to me one of the worst shocks I ever had was when I was down here for the first two weeks of my life
[17:21] And I'd go to the local bakery which looked pretty clean to me and had the glass display cases and all that just like in The first world now my first little shock was when I looked closely at the pastry case I noticed there were some honey bees buzzing around the pastries and the sweet rolls Just a few bees and they'd land on the rolls once in a while which was disgusting enough Sucking up as much frosting as they could I guess and to my amazement the ladies behind the counter didn't do a stinking thing About it now if I remember my entomology actually I'd be lucky if I could even spell that but anyway if I remember Bees are rather clean creatures so after a while I got over it, but as I continued to go back to that bakery daily soon enough. I began to notice Kooka Racha's and when I pointed out that disgusting development to the ladies behind the counter
[18:10] They just shrug and say it's done muy pecanitas. You know what that means. They're just little ones Which was the end of that bakery experience for me and by the way that was a long time ago in Costa Rica before I discovered Gary Nall and I've since changed my eating habits drastically and don't do bakery anymore Well, maybe a New York cheesecake once or twice a year on special occasions Anyway, the major culprit for your invasion of Kooka Racha's is your cleaning lady And it's not to say you haven't got Googles of Kooka Racha's up north in the states And if you noticed I'm using the word Google as it was intended to be used. It's the number one followed by 100 zeros, which is probably how many Kooka Racha's are in my cleaning lady's house So there's a new factoid for you
[18:57] And if you don't believe me just go to start page and put the word Google in the search box talk about sweet irony Now you got it if you were paying attention Anyway, let me go through the hygiene mistakes that your cleaning lady will always make so pay attention First of all never never leave any dirty dishes in your sink when you're done eating you clean them right away And let them air dry in one of those dry racks now They air dry super fast down here in Latin America like in about a half an hour or so You don't have to wash and wipe with the towel at least you got that going for you And if you have a dishwasher Which a lot of gringos have including me and a lot of cleaning ladies will ruin because they're just afraid of things like that And can't deal with basic technology other than a cell phone
[19:43] Anyway, don't think that if you stack your dirty dishes in the dishwasher and close the door that you'll be all right Till you fill it up, maybe tomorrow or the next day big mistake because I don't care What maker model of dishwasher you have there are tiny grooves vents and crevices that kookaracha's will find their way into and I? Just guarantee you that soon enough You'll open that dishwasher door someday even if there's not a single dish in there, and you'll see some kookaracha's Scurrying to get out of the light So yes use your dishwasher if you like that is if you're cleaning lady hasn't ruined it just run the wash cycle Right away, even if it's half or a quarter filled or you'll be sorry Because once you've got kookaracha's living in the bowels of your dishwasher
[20:30] You'll never get rid of them that happened to a gringo friend of mine And we took the front panel off the dishwasher and sprayed the hell out of it with the latin version of raid called Vygon which is more like napalm They still found a way to survive and by the way after that I was always Hesitant to eat off the forks and knives and plates at my buddy's house both for the kookaracha's and that nuclear Insecticide residue and the other place kookaracha's just love to hide hang out and make their home is in your Microwave oven now you would think that microwave radiation would make short work out of those disgusting creatures But actually I think it mutates them and they get stronger Let me tell you a little fact here every latin american family that has a microwave oven has kookaracha's living in it
[21:16] But it's not hard at all to prevent that from happening You just have to check the inside of your microwave after you use it to make sure that there's no crumbs or residue or liquid That's spilled over or as latin's like to do they just shove a bunch of plates and dishes in there and get this Most of them have long since broken the rotisserie part of the microwave It doesn't take long for the cleaning lady to drop that on the floor and break it so after that latin's end up putting In a glass or a plastic plate Permanently in the bottom of the microwave now that thing gets all monged up with food and crumbs and liquid which is kookaracha Heaven so anyway when you go to a latin person's house rich or poor don't be surprised when you walk into the kitchen if you see kookaracha's Scurrying around the backside of the microwave and running along the top now
[22:02] I'm not saying they're in great quantities just one or two here and there But you know those are just the scouts and the rest of the tribe is camped out in the guts Somewhere and they do have kookaracha's of all sizes and shapes down here, too You know they've got the big mothers that are about the size of the hope diamond Down to the tiniest little ones that almost seem cute now of course stateside. There's no shortage of kookaracha's either I remember going to a friend's house in Fort Lauderdale and though the house seemed pretty clean I once got up in the middle of the night and when I flicked on the kitchen light switch I have a dozen kookarachas that were on the wall scattered and were gone in an instant So it's not only a Latin American problem and what I'm telling you now will work for you, too Now the next thing you have to do is when you cut any fruits and vegetables up be sure to put them in their own
[22:49] Plastic bag right away and put a knot in the top then place it in the larger kitchen garbage bag Then you tie that one off too now in regards to the kitchen garbage now You know you have to put a big plastic garbage pail liner inside every garbage can that's a given right, but in warm Latin American climates That's never enough most people You know have a swivel kitchen garbage can lid and you just push this swivel portion and drop your garbage inside, right? Well that swivel top is the weak link in the system. It's no way a good seal It always collects a bit of food debris and liquid as you deposit your garbage in there And so at night the kookarachas are drawn to that so what can you do throw that swivel top away? Forget about it and just use the bucket part put that plastic bag liner in there one
[23:38] That's a size bigger than you'd normally use Then at night or if you're going out of the house for a while You tie a loose knot in the top of the bag and you're completely sealed off no more kookarachas And don't forget when you toss that bag outside for the garbage man always make it a habit to wash down the inside of that Garbage can don't just look into it and give it a quick inspection and think well There's no liquids or any disgusting stuff clinging to the sides of it So I don't have to clean it this time well if there's a tiny little crumb in there That's a mountain of food for a ton of kookarachas So just rinse it up and when you're finished toss about a half a spoon of dishwashing Powder in the bottom of the garbage can and leave it there kookarachas Just hate that stuff and to keep kookaraches out of your pantry and your shelving in your kitchen
[24:26] Make sure your shelves are lined with those thin rubberized mats You know the kind that comes in a roll and you can buy at the hardware store Don't use the adhesive back contact paper Don't do it you want to be able to take these things out once or twice a year and put them through a regular Washing machine and dryer cycle, so what do you do if you have kookaraches already or you move into a house or apartment? That's got them, and you don't want to use a toxic bomb Well there is a magic bullet to wipe them out in two weeks completely And I guarantee it works because I've used them myself you make up a batch of what I call kookaracha grenades by taking a little plastic bowl And you mix about a half a shot glass of regular gold metal flour and a half a shot glass of pure borax It's a white powder that you can get at a hardware store or welding supply store welders use it as a flux
[25:15] It's about three bucks a pound cheap. You've heard of 20 mule team borax well That's what it is. It's a mineral your grandma certainly used as a household cleaner So you take that and you add a pinch of brown sugar to attract the kookaraches Then you mix it up with a little water to the consistency of cookie dough and with that You can make up about 20 little balls about the size of a very small marble now Make sure your kookaracha grenades are not sticky to the touch, but more like play-doh now you place these things strategically around the kitchen in the corners of your cupboards against the wall behind your stove and refrigerator at least one on every shelf in your kitchen cabinets and always butting up at least against one wall or a corner because
[26:02] kookaraches love to run along the edge of a wall now over the next couple of weeks I'll munch on this stuff at night And it'll expand inside their stomachs and kill them and I guarantee if you've done all those other things I've mentioned and you lay out a dozen or so kookaracha grenades within a month You'll have no more kookaraches at all and by the way You can make those little kookaracha grenades really small like the size of a small pearl and you can hide them stealthily So when someone walks in your kitchen I'm not gonna say hey What the hell is that little ball doing in the corner and since they taste a little salty and bitter if a kid finds one Just one lick and he'll go yuck now I mentioned that your cleaning lady will be the biggest problem and trying to get rid of your kookaraches because her bad habits Brought them in the first place Which is all the more reason why I think it's a great idea for some of you
[26:50] Self-initiated expats out there to start giving weekend cleaning lady seminars You know a seminar to bring cleaning ladies up to first-world speed And I'm sure if you made a guarantee in your promotional materials For example, it could say send your moochacha to us and we guarantee no more kookaraches in your house Or double your money back or something like that And one more thing before I finish don't forget if you want to come to my Latin American insider seminar Which is being held in Central America June 23rd through 28th. That's six full days Just go to expatwisdom.com and click on the seminar link for full information You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America
[27:41] Coming to you each week from somewhere south of the border and don't forget you can email me on anything at all about Latin America the expat files at gmail.com See you next time